Sloan Gibson, acting secretary of Veterans Affairs, answers reporters questions about improvements within the medical care system during a visit to the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., on July 11, 2014. / Rogelio V. Solis, AP

by Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

by Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

About 636,000 veterans across the country have VA medical appointments that are at least a month past when they wanted to be seen, and 40,000 have been waiting for four months to see a doctor, the chairman of a Senate committee announced Wednesday.

Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson told Congress on Wednesday he needs $17.6 billion to fix the current treatment-delay crisis at the agency, a price that covers new or expanded facilities to provide badly needed space and the hiring of 10,000 more doctors, nurses and other medical staff for an agency that currently has 341,000 employees.

"We have serious problems," Gibson said.

He told senators there have been widespread improprieties that include "deliberate acts to falsify (appointment) data." He also said Department of Veterans Affairs employees are afraid to come forward and raise concerns, and that supervisors are more worried about good performance numbers than about treating veterans.

Gibson took over at the Department of Veterans Affairs as acting secretary after Eric Shinseki was forced to resign May 30, when it became clear the problems at the agency were system-wide.

Gibson said that since taking over the agency, the VA has gotten 160,000 veterans more quickly into medical care.

To meet growing demands by aging veterans and a new generation from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, he has had to send 250,000 patients to private doctors each month because the VA cannot handle the number seeking care.

Gibson also replaced the head of Office of Medical Inspector, whose efforts were found to be ineffectual by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistle-blower complaints.

The VA's acting inspector general, Richard Griffin, said in June that some supervisors are under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for manipulating appointment data.

It remains unclear how many veterans were harmed by the delays, although at least hundreds of thousands within a year's time were forced to wait longer to see a doctor than the VA's ambitious timetable of 14 days. That goal has since been set aside.

Gibson has said that 18 veterans died in Phoenix during delays in care at that facility. A retired VA doctor who originally alerted the VA to health care delays at the hospital in Phoenix has alleged that 40 veterans died awaiting care.

President Obama late last month nominated the former chairman of Procter & Gamble, Robert "Bob" McDonald, a former paratrooper, as the new secretary. The Senate will hold a hearing on his confirmation next Tuesday.

The VA's 150 hospitals and 820 outpatient clinics treat more than 6 million veterans each year. The busy system treats an estimated 50,000 mental health patient each day.